Sunday, September 05, 2010

Igor Antón dedicated his red leader's jersey yesterday to the late Txema Gonzalez. The Sky masseur was once at Euskaltel, and the 27-year-old climber paid tribute to the affable Spaniard on the podium, pointing to the sky and shedding a few tears in symbol of respect and heart-felt sadness. After the podium celebrations, Igor spoke to Bilbao newspaper El Correo. "He worked for Euskaltel for several years. I tried to win the stage for him, but I didn't manage that. But this jersey is for him." On donning the coveted red jersey, Igor said: "I don't want to think about the future or the podium. I live in the present, and I want to enjoy what I do and what I've done. I've won a stage and is first overall. I know that it'll be difficult to hang on to this jersey though. There will be much tension. But I know that I can fight for the GC, I won't deny that." Speaking on his rivals, Igor refused to discard any of them despite the fact that some heavy-hitters lost a considerable amount of time yesterday. "We have to watch out for Mosquera, he's dangerous", he said. "Schleck came to the Vuelta fresh and rested, but obviously he'll be better in the third week. As for Menchov, he lost time. But I'm not discarding him. He's won to Vueltas and a Giro."